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During WWII the US developed a revolutionary new torpedo that excelled at attempting to murder the people who launched it. This didn't seem to bother the US Navy.

Support the show: 
https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys

sources:
https://www.wearethemighty.com/popular/ww2-navy-torpedo-problems-mk14/
https://navalunderseamuseum.org/mk-14/
https://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/torpedo-scandal-rear-adm-charles-lockwood-the-mark-14-and-the-bureau-of-ordnance/
https://www.businessinsider.com/how-legendary-wwii-navy-submarine-uss-tang-sank-itself-2020-10

Episode 157 - The Mk 14 Torpedo and How the US Hated Their Own Submariners

Support the show:

https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys

Sources:
https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/messerschmitt-me-163b-1a-komet/nasm_A19530072000

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/the-super-scary-legend-nazi-germanys-me-163-rocket-fighters-18494

https://books.google.com/books?id=xiADAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA124&dq=popular+science+%22A+two-room+wing%22&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#v=onepage&q&f=true

"Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet". Wings of the Luftwaffe

Volmar, Joe (1999). I Learned to Fly for Hitler

https://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2020/10/the-german-rocket-fighter-that-dissolved-its-pilots-alive/

Episode 169 - The Nazi Rocket Plane That Melted its Pilots

WWII officially ended on September 2, 1945. 

It went on a lot longer for some people. 

Support the show:
https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys

Sources:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-japanese-wwii-soldier-who-refused-to-surrender-for-27-years-180979431/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/may/28/secondworldwar.japan
https://archive.today/20130717075553/http://newspaperarchive.com/pacific-stars-and-stripes/1949-01-10/page-5?tag=kufuku&rtserp=tags/kufuku%3Fndt=by&py=1949&pey=1951

"Straggler Reports to Emperor", Pacific Stars and Stripes, p. 1, June 8, 1960

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1368&dat=19800405&id=J3pQAAAAIBAJ&pg=6758,842754

UNLOCKED: The Japanese Holdouts of WWII

Joe is joined by Alice Caldwell-Kelly to discuss the time the US Navy murdered 47 of its sailors via incompetence and then decided to try to pin the blame on gay people. 

Support the show:
https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys

Sources:
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/04/19/uss-iowa-first-came-explosion-then-cover.html
https://taskandpurpose.com/news/iowa-explosion/
A Glimpse of Hell: The Explosion on the USS Iowa and Its Cover-Up

Episode 193 - The USS Iowa Turret Explosion

The USSR baits Nazis Germany into bleeding their army to death on 200 miles of death traps. 

Support the show:
https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys

Sources for all related episodes:

Showalter, Dennis. (2013) Armor and Blood: The Battle of Kursk: The Turning Point of World War II.

Guderian, Heinz (1937). Achtung – Panzer!

Nipe, George (2011). Blood, Steel, and Myth: The II. SS-Panzer-Korps and the Road to Prochorowka, July 1943.

https://web.archive.org/web/20140912164146/http://www.uni.edu/~licari/citadel.htm

Hill, Alexander (2017), The Red Army and the Second World War,

Episode 194 - The Battle of Kursk Part 1: Hitler is Bad at His Job

Hitler edges the idea of starting one of the most disastrous battles of all time while the Soviets build Fortress Kursk.


Correction:

Panzer V - Panther
Panzer VI - Tiger

Support the show:
https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys

Episode 195 - The Battle of Kursk Part 2: And Firebombs!

SS units arrive at the battle of Kursk cheering "Lunch in Kursk!" 

They would not, in fact, have lunch in Kursk. 

support the show:
https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys

Episode 196 - The Battle of Kursk Part 3: Lunch in Kursk!

The soviets launch their killing blow against the nazi army, ending the Battle of Kursk

Support the show:
https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys

Episode 197 - The Battle of Kursk Part 4: Drowning In Blood

The founder of Scientology had a very stupid naval career 

Support the show:
https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys

Sources:
Russel Miller. Bare-Faced Messiah

https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Cowen/warhero/intro.htm

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/primary-sources-l-ron-hubbard-leaves-the-navy

https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/11/30/l-ron-hubbard/?safari=1

Episode 209 - The Hilarious Military Career of L Ron Hubbard

During WWI the british navy thought of one of the most pointless battle plans of the entire war. They had to find someone equally worthless to command it. 

Support the show:
https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys

Sources:

Giles Foden. Mimi and Toutou Go Forth 

Edward Paice. Tip and Run. The Untold Tragedy of the Great War in Africa

Episode 220 - The Battle of Lake Tanganyika Part 1: The Worst Officer in the British Navy

Spicer Simson rides into some of the dumbest combat of all time, somehow wins. 

Support the show:
https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys

Sources:
Giles Foden. Mimi and Toutou Go Forth 

Edward Paice. Tip and Run. The Untold Tragedy of the Great War in Africa

Episode 221 - The Battle of Lake Tanganyika Part 2: Nelson of the Lake

The story of the most deadly submarine disaster in American history.

Support the show and get episodes like this a week before everyone else, plus bonus episodes!
https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys


Sources:

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/08/14/questions-about-infamous-lost-sub-thresher-resurface-navy-releases-new-documents-tied-decades-old-mystery.html

https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2023/april/what-killed-thresher

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/atomic-submarine-sinks-in-atlantic

https://www.naval-technology.com/features/featureperil-in-the-depths-the-worlds-worst-submarine-disasters-4191027/

https://www.secnav.navy.mil/foia/readingroom/HotTopics/Forms/AllItems.aspx?RootFolder=%2ffoia%2freadingroom%2fHotTopics%2fTHRESHER%20RELEASE

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/rip-how-mechanical-problem-led-uss-thresher-its-eternal-patrol-92421

Norman Polmar. The Death of the USS Thresher

Episode 261 - The USS Thresher

Napoleon attempts to make friends, ends up making war instead. 

Support the show:  https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys

Follow us on Twitter @lions_by

Source for all related episodes:

Adam Zamoyski. Moscow 1812: Napoleon's Fatal March

Episode 95 - French Invasion of Russia Part 1: Imperial Bromance

On part 2 we talk about the terrible life and times of a soldier in the 1800s. 25 year conscription, disease, banditry, and good old government ran child abduction. Now shut up and die for your Emperor.  

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys

buy some merch: https://teespring.com/stores/lions-led-by-donkeys-store

follow us on Twitter @lions_by

Join the subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/LionsLedByDonkeys/

Episode 96 - French Invasion of Russia Part 2: Worst Enlistment Ever

Robert E Lee was a traitor, a slave owner, and a war criminal. 

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys

Sources for this episode:
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/06/the-myth-of-the-kindly-general-lee/529038/
https://acwm.org/blog/myths-misunderstandings-lee-slaveholder/
http://fair-use.org/national-anti-slavery-standard/1866/04/14/robert-e-lee-his-brutality-to-his-slaves
https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/08/arlington-bobby-lee-and-the-peculiar-institution/61428/
https://www.post-gazette.com/news/state/2013/06/30/Confederates-slave-hunt-in-North-a-military-disgrace/stories/201306300221

Episode 105 - Robert E Lee Was a Monster

The Russian Navy sets off on a one way journey into naval history. 

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys

Episode 121 - Russo -Japanese War Part 3: The Voyage of the Damned

Francis from the Hell of a way to die Podcast and Shocks, everyone's favorite podcast lawyer join the show to talk about all of the times the US and USSR lost nuclear weapons due to horrible incompetence.

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys

sources:
https://interestingengineering.com/broken-arrows-the-worlds-lost-nuclear-weapons
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/17483/8-nuclear-weapons-us-has-lost
https://www.introtoglobalstudies.com/2012/10/broken-arrow-lost-nuclear-weapons-in-canada/
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/command-and-control-goldsboro-1961/

Episode 123 - Broken Arrow

Life aboard a U-boat during WWII was horrible but thankfully short from all the dying. 

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys

Correction: During the show Joe says he couldn't find reports of U-Boat crews killing themselves. Someone pointed out it happened at least once in this incident: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Zschech


Sources: 
Iron Coffins by Herbert Warner
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/horrors-of-serving-a-u-boat.html
https://warisboring.com/the-high-tech-toilet-that-destroyed-a-submarine/

Episode 124 - Life on a U-Boat was terrible

Joe and Nick talk about all the times the militaries of the world attempted to weaponize the powers of woo woo bullshit.

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys

Sources:
https://www.history.com/news/cia-esp-espionage-soviet-union-cold-war
https://taskandpurpose.com/history/5-true-stories-militarys-paranormal-activity-research
https://www.wearethemighty.com/articles/soldiers-vampires-ghosts
Blum, William. Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since WWII
https://science.howstuffworks.com/ghost-tape-no-10-haunted-mixtape-the-vietnam-war.htm

Episode 126 - How World Militaries Attempted to Weaponize the Paranormal

At the end of WWII a group of French POWs went looking for help and ended up taking part in one of the weirdest battles in military history. 

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys

Sources:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32622651
https://www.historynet.com/the-battle-for-castle-itter.htm
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/itter-castle-strangest-battle-world-war-ii-152721

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Wheeljack 8401